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| Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity |
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| (L-R) Sreelekha, Aditi and Soumik chat over coffee and chicken sausages in Sreelekha’s Narendrapur house. Pictures: Pabitra Das |
With 10 nominations, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is a strong contender at the Oscars. Actress Sreelekha Mitra, cinematographer Soumik Haldar and director Aditi Roy root for the sci-fi film in an adda for t2...
Are we all fans of science fiction films here?
Sreelekha: I am definitely one. I loved Solaris, 2001 — A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and several others…
Aditi: I must admit I haven’t been a great fan… but I simply loved Gravity!
Soumik: Me too. I’m not much into sci-fi movies. The last one I liked was ET. That was more than 30 years ago. And now, Gravity, for sure!
What was going on in your mind when the end credits started rolling?
Aditi: I had gone to watch George Clooney! When it ended, what stayed with me was the fact that there were just two characters far away in space… from where the earth looked beautiful… and the final shot when the protagonist finds ground beneath her feet.
Sreelekha: The sound of silence… the sound of breathlessness… the occasional clutter of the radio signals… the baby crying and the dog barking… the use of sound was going on in my mind. It was awesome!
Soumik: What I loved most was the absence of the ‘presence’ of the camera. It was as if I was in that space and was experiencing the turn of events along with the characters.... I thoroughly enjoyed the Mera joota hai Japani number! That was unexpected.
Do you think this film is really science fiction?
Sreelekha: It is! It’s fiction, and it deals with scientific stuff.
Aditi: This one cannot be narrowly clubbed as just a sci-fi film. There’s a hint of a personal loss, a touch of romance, great sacrifice…
Soumik: There’s a human story in there. Also, the treatment is unlike any other film of this genre.
Why do you think space was chosen as the setting?
Aditi: Probably to heighten the sense of peril… no oxygen, no sound... how do you make it back from there?
Soumik: It reminded me of the Tom Hanks film, Cast Away. But this one is in space, and so in much more difficult circumstances…
I felt ashamed that we don’t think of such unique subjects…
Aditi: Even if we did come up with a subject like this, would it get funding?
Sreelekha: Most importantly, could we have come up with this concept?
Soumik: I too felt ashamed. I felt as if our knowledge is really limited, and our achievements are average.... I was wondering how Emmanuel Lubezki (director of photography) came up with those visuals, what kind of pre-production meetings must have gone on, what could have been the director’s brief… everything is happening so seamlessly, yet they are created, but you don’t feel that — this aspect is great cinematography! I just feel that our cinema, our achievements are still mediocre… we need to go miles and miles…
What did you think of Sandra Bullock, Sreelekhadi?
Sreelekha: I thought the casting was perfect. Bullock has a sharp jawline, not too feminine yet vulnerable. She looked the part. And she’s a great actor. I wonder what kind of training she must have gone through to get into character.
What kind of homework would you do if you were to play Bullock’s role?
Sreelekha: I wouldn’t have managed to do it! (Laughs) It’s extremely difficult for me to get that kind of fitness! Moreover, we’re still stuck with extramarital affairs… we still make varied remakes of Ghare Baire… so no point thinking about all that.
Aditi, what kind of themes did you find in Gravity?
Aditi: The theme of survival. Also, loneliness. At one point, Kowalski (Clooney) tells Stone (Bullock), after a US satellite goes defunct, that half of North America has lost its Facebook! Situated in space, that comment means a lot. How enamoured we are of the cyberspace and how confined we are in our thoughts… probably that’s why we’re getting lonelier by the day… I really liked the thought. Also, the use of dialogue has been very interesting with a lot of humour in it.
And without 3D we would not have sensed space…
Aditi: Yes, it would have looked flat. The curvature of earth, the sunrise, and the visuals… they’ve got a kind of beauty with the use of 3D…
Soumikda, 3D technology has been effectively used in Avatar, Life of Pi and Hugo. What are your thoughts on its use in Gravity?
Soumik: Probably this one’s the best. Without 3D, this film would not have been effective at all. So its use is not for gimmick but for need. And hence its success. It has been used here to create space, and we have been included in the space. So our experience is very similar to that of the two characters. Without the use of 3D, this ‘feel’ could not have been achieved. Also, 3D has been used minimally and realistically. That has added to its effectiveness…
I felt a kind of softness in the use of 3D…
Soumik: Exactly. There seems to be good choreography in even the falling of a nut and bolt, or in the way the debris come at you. Nothing is too fast and furious, so they don’t look gimmicky.
Sreelekha: The director has shown a lot of restraint in controlling the motion…
Soumikda, how would you have prepared to shoot this film?
Soumik: Gravity is a great example of the use of VFX. Except for the last sequence where Stone returns to earth, it’s all shot for VFX. So, it involves a lot of mathematics. I would have to do a lot of study, I guess, to prepare for a film like this. A gruelling pre-production would be involved. No wonder they took four years to create it. One would also need to be careful that the technology does not come in the way of the human emotion... all this and many more… Frankly speaking, I don’t think I would have been able to execute this film. (Smiles)
When would we be able to think this big, in terms of concept?
Aditi: I don’t know. Firstly, we need to think of out-of-the-box subjects. The question is, are we capable of that? And if we are, what next?
Sreelekha: Our films still have song-and-dance. Good cinema rarely does great business. It is quite different in the West.
Soumik: We derive stories from our jatra-pala, our folklore. It is also determined by our socio-economic condition. We still look for stories in a film. We expect a beginning and an ending. So all this affects our ability to think beyond and think better…
Sreelekha: But we are gradually experimenting. I am glad that films like Chander Pahar are being made. In our small regional space, that’s also a big leap!
Aditi: And it’s up to the audience to show their mettle when we step out for a six! We need their support to give them better films.
